The invention concerns a tappet particularly for a pump or a compressor, said tappet comprising a tubular housing on whose drive-side annular end face two flat sections recessed from an outer shell of the housing lie diametrically opposite each other, a bolt supporting a roller being mounted in said flat sections, a separate bridge member protruding, axially below said roller, through an inner shell of the housing, an output-side end face of the bridge member serving as a contacting surface for a tappet follower part, said bridge member bearing against undersides of said flat sections in direction of the drive-side annular end face and being held in direction of an output-side annular end face of said housing by a ring which is fixed to the inner shell.
A tappet of the pre-cited type is disclosed in DE 102012211113.1. This tappet is suitable for loading a pump piston of a fuel injection pump. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the retention of the bridge member in axial direction outwards from the housing is realized through a snap ring that is held on lugs protruding radially inwards from the housing.
A drawback of the above solution is that a mounting of the bridge member over the drive-side annular end face has to be performed in a very controlled and exact manner so as to avoid any collision with the lugs. Furthermore, due to the inwards protruding components (lugs, snap ring), the radial design space in the lower region of the housing is restricted, so that under certain circumstances not enough design space is available for a resetting spring, or the like, on the output-side end face of the bridge member. In addition, the lugs weaken the housing. Depending on the case, deformation of the outer shell of the housing can occur in the region of the lugs.